I believe this is the second installment in a week or two about the dangers of assault rifles and possible renewal of the ban.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Police take up assault weapons; some fear an arms race
Officers fear they could be outgunned by criminals
By Robert Nolin, Leon Fooksman and Brian Haas
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 23, 2007
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Suddenly, it seems, assault rifles are everywhere: in the news, in music videos, on MySpace pages. They are found in the hands of criminals and now, as a consequence, in the trunks of South Florida police cars.
The result is an escalating war of weapons one-upmanship, as the men and women of law enforcement try to avoid being outgunned on the street by lawbreakers.
In Broward County, hundreds of deputies are undergoing training on the sort of high-powered rifles originally designed for soldiers in combat. In Palm Beach County, where at least nine attacks with assault weapons in the past two years left at least six dead, the situation is even more critical. There, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw plans to purchase 1,000 assault rifles to arm his deputies.
"I've seen the trend developing for months," Bradshaw said. "We need to level the playing field right now."
The situation in South Florida is hardly the exception. On the national scale, "the idea of an arms race, that's not that far from reality," said Scott Knight, police chief of Chaska, Minn., and chairman of the firearms committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The association, which represents about 20,000 police administrators in the United States and 88 other countries, called last week for the renewal of the 10-year federal ban on assault rifles that expired in 2004.
Assault weapons surged into the headlines in South Florida this month when a Margate man equipped with one gunned down a Miami-Dade police officer and wounded three of his comrades. The killer was shot to death by police that same day outside a Pembroke Pines apartment complex.
West Palm Beach Police Officer Mark Meyerowich, 48, knows firsthand what it's like to stare down the barrel of an assault rifle. In May 1997, he and four other officers were the targets of 100 rounds fired from an AK-47, known worldwide for its lethal effectiveness. No one was injured. The shooter pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to six life terms.
"I thought I was hit and I was wondering why I didn't feel the bullets going through me," Meyerowich later said in a court hearing.
"People are getting more access to them," the 27-year police veteran said of assault rifles. "We live in a dangerous world."
That greater access has meant increased jeopardy for law enforcement. According to a 2003 FBI study, 41 of 211 police officers killed from 1998 through 2001 were shot with assault rifles. Those deaths occurred while the ban was in effect, proving what some critics of the ban have argued: that criminals will get their hands on the weapons, legal or not.
Criminals bearing assault weapons such as AK-47s are also a menace for civilians. Last Tuesday, in a dark parking lot behind a crime-plagued apartment complex west of West Palm Beach, two men opened fire on a car full of people. They killed two and wounded a third. One of the assailants used an assault rifle.
Authorities in Palm Beach County said the prevalence of gang activity — they estimate there are 160 gangs with 7,000 members — may account for the heavy assault rifle usage there.
The rifles the sheriff plans to buy with $600,000 in forfeiture funds are AR-15s, the civilian version of the U.S. military's M-16. Like all civilian assault rifles, they fire just one round per trigger pull; only military versions can be fired in full automatic mode.
But with magazines capable of holding 30 rounds, assault rifles can still lay down formidable firepower. On Jan. 1 this year, a luxury SUV pulled up to a house in Riviera Beach and at least two gunmen let loose with assault rifles. People fled. The only person killed was the one who couldn't escape the barrage of 37 bullets: an 8-month-old infant strapped in a car seat.
Broward hasn't seen a similar onslaught of assault weapon attacks, with this year's sole fatality attributed to one occurring on New Year's Day. Audley Ebanks, 69, of Fort Lauderdale, was celebrating in a Plantation backyard when he collapsed and died. Doctors suspected a heart attack, but later discovered a bullet had entered his shoulder and pierced his heart.
It came from an assault rifle. The case is still open.
"Our people are encountering them more often than they have in the past," said Elliot Cohen, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office. "That's an increased danger to everybody."
The sheriff's office doesn't track the number of assault rifles used in crimes, but said they are seizing more. The agency has been arming personnel with AR-15s, and some 300 deputies have been trained in their use.
Even the small seaside city of Lighthouse Point, which in recent years averaged 15 violent crimes annually, purchased nine AR-15s in July and hopes eventually to outfit its entire 34-officer force with them, said commander Mike Oh.
Oh said the agency wants to be prepared for crime that spills over from neighboring cities.
In Miami, Police Chief John Timoney recently authorized his officers to carry assault rifles. That department reported the weapons were involved in 15 of 79 homicides last year. So far this year, they have been involved in 12 of 60 homicides.
The police chiefs association said in a statement that renewing the assault weapon ban "will prevent many of the senseless killings that wreak havoc in our communities."
Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson, president of the Florida Sheriff's Association, said his group has yet to take a position on re-instating the ban, but that such a move would likely be endorsed by officers. "I would think law enforcement in general would probably be against being able to obtain assault weapons," he said.
One of Broward's largest gun dealers, Stephen Corn, owner of Guns & Knives and Arizona Shooting Range in Fort Lauderdale, has seen an uptick in sales of the expensive AR-15s, maybe because of the prominence of assault rifles in the news. Many buyers are "regular people" who want the weapons for the novelty, he said.
"A lot of people go plinking, they shoot for fun," Corn said. "Some people think it's a defense weapon, they could need it at home should there be a problem after a hurricane."
Street firearms have evolved to ever more sophisticated weaponry, said Art Hayhoe, director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "It's a race for who can get the most firepower."
And the race is hardly over. The next in-demand weapon, Hayhoe said, is the .50-caliber sniper rifle, which can fire a bullet more than a mile.
"They're not as popular as the assault rifles," he said, "but they're growing in popularity and more and more are being sold."
Staff Writers Hemmy So and Mc Nelly Torres contributed to this report.
Robert Nolin can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4525.
